Britain repatriates some orphans left in Syria

Britain repatriates some orphans left in Syria

LONDON — Britain said on Thursday it had arranged for some orphans to be brought home from Syria, joining Germany, Belgium and Australia in repatriating children whose parents were suspected members of Islamic State.

Britain has generally been reluctant to allow adults who traveled to Syria to return home but Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it was right to bring children home.

“These innocent, orphaned, children should never have been subjected to the horrors of war,” Raab said.

“We have facilitated their return home, because it was the right thing to do. Now they must be allowed the privacy and given the support to return to a normal life.”

Raab did not say how many children were returning. The charity Save The Children said in October that more than 60 British children were trapped in north-eastern Syria.

Many Western countries have struggled with how to deal with citizens who went to the Middle East to join groups such as Islamic State, which was driven out of its last territorial enclave in March by U.S.-backed forces.

Earlier this month Turkey started to deport captives from Islamic State.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.